How I think about growth

By the time a buyer speaks to sales, they may already have read reviews, asked their peers and used AI to compare options. The first conversation can happen long after the first decision.

For an India-built SaaS company entering the US, the challenge is earning a place in that consideration set before buyers know your name. I think of marketing as the work of building trust across those earlier moments.

Begin with the proof you already have

An existing customer can explain the problem, the circumstances and the change in a way a vendor introduction cannot. Start with that evidence, then make it easy for a similar buyer to recognise themselves in the story.

For example

Imagine a software company with a successful manufacturing customer. Its first market-entry story could explain the specific operational problem that customer faced, how the product was used and what the customer can substantiate. That gives a manufacturing peer something concrete to evaluate.

The example is illustrative. Publish customer names, quotes and results only when you have permission and evidence.

A question for your next planning meeting

What would a buyer find convincing about us before speaking to anyone on our team?

“The US market” is too broad to be a useful starting brief. A team needs a narrower place to learn: one vertical, one geography, one customer segment or one problem where it already has a reason to win.

I start with the strongest existing traction and build outward. A customer's peers, partners, suppliers and adjacent businesses can be a more useful next step than an unrelated list of large accounts. I call this near-category ABM: expanding from a problem and context you already understand.

Make the first boundary explicit

For example, a team serving a particular type of regional manufacturer could begin with similar companies facing the same workflow problem. The first campaign, customer proof and sales conversation can then reinforce the same proposition.

That boundary is a starting hypothesis. Evidence from customers determines where to deepen the focus and when to expand.

Try this before adding another segment

• Write down the customer problem you understand best.
• Identify the segment where you can already support your claim.
• Name what you will deliberately leave out of the first campaign.
• Agree on what evidence would justify expansion.

This is the thinking behind the Beachhead Game: limited time and budget make the choice visible.

Personalisation is limited by the quality of the research behind it. A name in a subject line tells a buyer very little about whether you understand their situation.

Before a campaign, I want the team to understand the account, the people involved in the decision and the signals that suggest a relevant problem. Hiring, technology choices and stated business priorities can help form a hypothesis. They are clues to investigate.

Turn a signal into a useful question

For example, an expansion announcement might suggest a need to coordinate work across locations. It does not prove that a company has a workflow problem. Research can help you frame a relevant question and find the right people to ask.

A simple account brief

• What do we know, and where did we learn it?
• What problem might follow from that context?
• Who experiences it, influences the decision and approves the spend?
• What comparable customer evidence can we offer?
• What do we still need to validate?

AI can help organise the research. Judgment remains necessary to distinguish a supported observation from a plausible guess.